Sofa bed with sliding armrests



Feb. 8, 1955 M. Fox

son BED WITH summa ARMREsTs 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 9, 1952 Feb. 8, 1955 M. Fox 2,701,373

SOFA BED WITH SLIDING ARMRESTS Filed June 9, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I "IHIH Feb. 8, 1955 M. Fox 2,701,373

SOFA BED WITH SLIDING ARMRESTS Filed June 9, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIB- 7 ZZ f6' @www www)

F eb. 8, 1955 Filed June 9, 1952 M. FOX

SOFA BED WITH SLIDING ARMRESTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Feb. 8, 1955 M. Fox

SOFA BED WITH SLIDING ARMRESTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 9, 1952 l@ I l C@ M E 1 4Z @o FM; Z f Z af,J we 9 y .l Za d f W E 1@ F www Z Z. n n m Z0 H United States Patent O 2,701,373 SOFA BED WITH SLIDING ARMRESTS Martin Fox, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Seng Company, a corporation of Illinois Application June 9, 1952, Serial No. 292,401 4 Claims. (Cl. 5 47) This invention relates to sofa beds and more particularly to an improved sofa bed hinge structure wherein the arm rests are slidably mounted so as to move forwardly out of the way of the back section when the structure is moved to bed position.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a sofa bed of improved appearance in which a portion of the back section extends over the arm rests when in sofa position. Heretofore, a characteristic of a sofa bed was a structure in which the back section was shorter than the over-all length of the structure. Usually the back was rather high and the general appearance was not in keeping with modern furniture.

Another object of the present invention is to provide forwardly sliding arm rests which are automatically moved forwardly from under the back section when the device is moved to bed position, and when in sofa position the arm rests are firmly held against lateral movement by stud and hole connections.

The invention is illustrated in a preferred embodiment in the acompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an upholstered sofa bed in sofa position, embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 a perspective view of the device in bed position;

Fig. 3 a vertical sectional View, taken as indicated at line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 a vertical sectional view, taken as indicated at line 4 4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 an end elevational view of the device in sofa position;

Fig. 6 an end elevational view of the device in bed position;

Fig. 7 a fragmentary plan sectional View, taken as indicated at line 7 7 in Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 a plan sectional View, taken as indicated at line 8 8 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 a fragmentary sectional View, showing the convertible sofa bed hinge structure;

Fig. 10 a fragmentary plan view, taken as indicated at line 10-10 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 1l a fragmentary front sectional view, taken as indicated at line 11 11 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 12 a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the track in which the arm rest is slidably mounted;

Fig. 13 a fragmentary plan view of the track;

Fig. 14 a vertical sectional view of the rail on the arm rest which ts into the grooved track; and

Fig. 15 a fragmentary enlarged plan View of the rail shown in Fig. 14.

In the embodiment illustrated, a supporting box-like frame 16 is mounted on legs 17. As best shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 8, it is provided with a cross brace 18 which is cut away to provide clearance for the seat. As best shown in Figs. 11 to 13, extension cross braces 19 are bolted in spaced relation to the ends of the main frame 16, and are held by bolts 20 which pass through spacer blocks. Horizontal rails 21 are bolted to the braces 19 and afford a grooved track for a T-shaped rail 22 secured to the arm rests 23 by means of bolts 24.

A seat member 25 and a back member 26 are supported on the ends of the supporting frame 16 by means of a hinge structure which is more fully described in Fox and Hassel Patent 2,437,949, issued March 16, 1948. The hinge structure has a base plate 27 secured to the frame 16 by means of screws 28. A front supporting link 29 and a rear supporting link 30 are pivotally secured to the base plate 27, and a counterbalancing spring 31 i5 connected to the link 29. A back plate 32 is secured to the back 26 and is hingedly connected at 33 to a seat plate 34, which is screwed to the seat section 25. The front supporting link 29 is connected to the plates 32 and 34 by the same hinge pivot 33. The back supporting ICC link is pivotally connected to the back plate 32 at 35. A releasable latch member 36 holds the back member in sofa position, as more fully described in the Fox and Hassel patent.

The arm rests 23, as best shown in Fig. 6, are provided with rearwardly extending studs 37 which engage holes 38 provided in the base frame, when the arm rests are in sofa position, as illustrated in Fig. 5. These brace the arm rests firmly against lateral movement when the structure is in normal sofa position. The rear portion of each arm rest is provided with a bracket 39, to which a driving link 40 is pivotally connected. The front end of the driving link is connected to the pivot 35 of the rear supporting link 30, so that when the device is moved from sofa position to bed position, the arm rests will be slid forwardly to clear the extensions of the back rest 26. In making this conversion, it is unnecessary to pull the structure away from a wall, as the hinge structure moves the arm rests forwardly and the back member swings downwardly and forwardly into horizontal bed posltion.

It will be noted in Figs. 8, 10 and 11, that the hinge structure is disposed between the arm rests and the bed structure so that when the device is upholstered, the mechanism will be concealed.

The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, for some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A convertible sofa bed structure, comprising: a supporting base frame; a pair of arm rests slidably mounted on the ends of said frame to move forwardly and rearwardly; a movable back section and a seat section, a portion of said back section extending over said arm rests when in sofa position; a hinge connecting said sections, a pair of links mounted on each end of the base frame and supporting said hinge in rear sofa position and in forward bed position; and driving links connecting the hinge to the arm rests for sliding said arm rests forwardly when the hinge is moved forwardly by turning the back section to bed position.

2. A device as specified in claim 1, in which the arm rests have tongue and groove sliding connections with the base frame, and studs are provided on the sliding arms to engage holes in the base frame when said arm rests are in sofa position so as to brace the arm rests in upright position.

3. A device as specified in claim 1, in which the pairs of supporting links are mounted between the ends of seat and back sections, and the slidable arm rests, so as to be hidden by said arm rests.

4. A convertible sofa bed structure, comprising: a supporting base frame; a pair of arm rests slidably mounted on the ends of said frame to move forwardly and rearwardly; a movable back section and a seat section, a portion of said back section extending over said arm rests when in sofa position; a hinge having a first portion attached to the seat section and a second portion attached to the back section; a pair of links each having one end mounted on an end of the base frame, one of said links having its other end attached to said first hinged portion and the other of said links having its other end attached to said second hinged portion to support said sections in rear sofa position and in forward bed position; and driving links connecting said other end of the link attached to said second hinged portion to the arm rests for sliding said arm rests forwardly when the hinge is moved forwardly by turning the back section to bed position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 570,563 Peterson Nov. 3, 1896 670,073 Fortiner Mar. 19, 1901 702,959 Jones June 24, 1902 932,264 Fountain Aug. 24, 1909 2,071,727 Blumenthal Feb. 23, 1937 2,437,949 Fox et al Mar. 16, 1948 2,501,464 Bernstein Mar. 21, 1950 2,627,613 Lund Feb. 10, 1953 

